


Lucid Dreaming

by Falling_In_Flames



Category: Naruto
Genre: AU, Denial, Gen, Lucid Dreaming, Self-Insert, more tags added as we go, not really - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-02-03
Updated: 2016-05-11
Packaged: 2018-05-17 22:46:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,634
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5888215
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Falling_In_Flames/pseuds/Falling_In_Flames
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Oh. I was just dreaming. </p>
<p>Strangely, I was dreaming that I was Sakura Haruno from the Naruto Manga/Anime of all things, but dreaming I was nonetheless. In just a moment I would blink back into consciousness in the safety of my own room and go about my day. </p>
<p>Right? </p>
<p>Wrong.</p>
<p>I am in no way ready for the Ninja World. </p>
<p>Luckily, the Ninja World isn't really ready for me either.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Wake Up

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by Dreaming of Sunshine by Silver Queen, Catch Your Breath by Liangnmi, and SATOKO by YourIdiotWriter among many others.

“ –still doing home? It’s almost noon, you’re late for school!” 

I groaned and rolled over. What school? I’m 23 damn it, school was over five years ago. I opened my eyes slowly, squinting against the light before sitting up rather abruptly in shock.

This was not my room. 

And now that I was awake enough to think about it I was pretty sure that was not my mothers voice. I mean yeah, living with the parents at 23 was a bit odd, but with the house just a thirty-minute drive from my University it was easier then going apartment hunting.

But back to the situation at hand.

Not my room.

Not my mum.

Oh God.

Had I been kidnapped? I couldn’t remember being kidnapped. Casting my mind back, I came to the unsettling realization that the last thing I could remember was going to sleep in my room. What the hell had had happened between then and now?

Kicking off the covers, I got out of bed, wincing at the cold wood floor. The room was small; the bed was in the corner pressed up against one wall and a desk/draws combo stood against the other, a hamper in the corresponding corner. 

It was definitely not my room. But it didn’t seem to be a cell or a cage so that was something I suppose.

It was all oddly proportioned too, everything slightly larger then it should be. The bed was far too long for my size and the desk came up to the bottom of my ribs instead of my hips.

Trying to keep my breathing calm and steady as I contemplated my apparent kidnapping and whether or not I wanted to confront the mystery woman, I accidently caught sight of myself in the mirror hanging between the hamper and the desk.

Well.

That was odd.

I tipped my head to the side and the girl in the mirror copied, her long hair falling over her shoulders and settling to one side. Her long pink hair. That framed her large forehead and complimented her pretty green eyes.

I blinked. So did the girl. I blinked again, just for good measure and breathed a sigh of relief as I began to comprehend what had happened to me.

I hadn’t been kidnapped, I was just dreaming. Strangely, I was dreaming that I was Sakura Haruno from the Naruto Manga/Anime of all things, but dreaming I was nonetheless.

Well, at least that explained why everything was so big. I was tiny. I was a tiny twelve-year-old Naruto character.

I gave a weak smile to Sakura and she smiled back. Giving myself a little shake I tried to calm myself with the fact that soon I would wake up, really wake up, laugh about my strange dream and swear never to read Naruto Self-Insert Fanfics before bed again.

In just a moment I would blink back into consciousness in the safety of my own room and go about my day.

Yep.

Any second now.

Right….. now.

…..Now.

NOW!

Damn it. Deciding to take the more direct approach I grabbed a length of that long, ridiculous hair and pulled hard, hoping that pain would be enough to jolt me back into the waking world. The only thing that happened was that I made myself yelp in shock and pain, my fist automatically clenching harder on the pink strands I had managed to pull loose.

Fucking. Hell.

How did you wake yourself up from a lucid dream? I was starting to panic now. Dreams could span years inside a persons mind. Was going to have to make my way through the entire Naruto plotline?

More importantly, was this a completely lucid dream where I could do what I wanted or was it more like Inception dreams where the dream people would turn on me if I stood out too much.

Fuck, this was a ninja world; they would probably interrogate me before killing me. I felt a shiver crawl down my spine as I remembered Ibiki’s scars.

What the _fuck_ was I going to do?

I looked back at the mirror. Sakura had gone really pale, her breath fogging the mirror as it came in harsh gasps.

“Sakura!” The woman called again. Sakura’s mother I assumed. I vaguely remembered that Sakura’s parents were both ninja. How was I going to trick them into believing that I was their daughter? Or would they already believe that _I_ was Sakura? I really had no idea how this dream thing worked and when had everything gone blurry like that?

Before I could even begin to think about either option, the door to the bedroom door opened and a woman stepped in.

That… was not Mebuki Haruno.

From what I remembered from the Naruto Wikia, Sakura’s mother had dark blonde hair, green eyes and wore a white dress. This woman had incredibly curly, green-blue hair that was held out of her striking purple eyes by a forehead protector and was dressed in the standard dark blue ninja uniform.

Who the hell was this!?

Why did my dream have OC ninjas? She wasn’t even one of MY OC’s. Or was she? I couldn’t really recall. To my absolute horror I realized that my memory of the real world was growing fuzzy, like the dreams you start to forget as soon as you wake. The irony of this was not lost on me.

“What are you still doing in your pajamas? Are you not feel– ” She paused as she noticed my panicked state.

Moving faster and far more gracefully than I expected, the woman strode across the room and knelt down, putting herself my level.

“Look at me Sakura.” She said firmly, placing one hand on my shoulder. Once my eyes found hers she used her free hand to take my right one and pressed it to her chest. “Breathe with me. In…and out. In…and out.”

I did what I was told, timing my breaths with hers as her chest rose and fell under my hand. In… and out. In… and out.

As I breathed I started to remember this women. Not really, because I had never seen her before in my life and didn’t recognise her from the manga or anime but the more I looked at her the more I seemed to know her.

Or maybe it would be more accurate to say that Sakura knew her. This was Murasaki Kawazoi, Sakura’s next-door neighbor. She was a newly made Chunin and would often check in on Sakura when her parents were out on missions. This was sadly often, as Mebuki and Kizashi Haruno were courier ninja and could be gone for days, weeks, or even months at a time, returning for only one or two days before heading out again. Murasaki had become an older sister-like figure for Sakura, listening to her worries, helping her with schoolwork and teaching Sakura how cook and clean for herself. 

After a few minutes of breathing and remembering I was able to get my panic under control, my vision cleared and I started to feel better. Belatedly I realized that I had been working my way up to a panic attack. Great. Noticing that the woman was still counting out my breathing I tried to give her a weak smile.

Since I really didn’t want to chance an Inception style wake up, my hair pulling attempt proving that my dream was real enough for me to feel pain, I decided to play role, as it were.

“Thank you, Murasaki-san. I’m feeling better now.”

The Chunin let my hand fall from her chest and stood up, taking a step back with a small frown, her eyes searching my face.

“You were hyperventilating again. Thinking about Ino-chan? Or are you worried about the exams?”

“Exams?” I choked.

Oh God. Where in the timeline was I? Panic started to rise again as I realized that, given my current age and hair length, I could be anywhere. Including just before the Chunin Exams.

I was in no way ready to go charging about the Forest of Death. I would be even more hopeless and useless then the real Sakura. At least the real Sakura could kinda Ninja. I couldn’t even make the fail-traps needed to protect Naruto and Sasuke’s unconscious arses! The way things were looking I was probably going to get killed by giant bug. Or a tiger. Didn’t I remember there being motherfucking _tigers_ in that place? Fuck it all. There was no way I was going to live long enough to get myself killed by Orochimaru. This was my dream! Surly I wouldn’t die that quickly. Right? Right?!                                                     

Murasaki, ignorant of my internal predictions of imminent doom, placed one hand on my cheek and gave me a warm smile. “Your going to be fine Sakura, I know that your Taijutsu and Ninjutsu aren’t very strong but there will be time to work on those later. You’re good at detecting and breaking Genjutsu, and you’ve passed every written test with flying colours. Tomorrow’s test will be a piece of cake.”

Taijutsu, Ninjutsu, Genjutsu what? Oh… The _Genin Exams_. Thank Fuck. That was slightly more doable.

I mean kinda, but no, not really.

I had no idea how to do the jutsu needed to pass but at least there was no chance of me dying. I think. What else did I have to do? I only knew of the written exam and the last part of the practical test, which was to create shadow clones. I probably wouldn’t even make it that far.

 God damn it dream. Why couldn’t my lucidity start somewhere nice and easy like – well – Fuck. Now that I thought about it, this was probably the safest time for me to be aware of the dream. I was just a kid, so no one was going to expect me to awesome at ninja-ing or preform amazing ninja surgery.

On second thought, good job dream, thanks.

Murasaki, seeming unconcerned by my bouts of silent internal reflection, gave my cheek a gentle pat and then pushed me towards the dresser-desk.

“But, you really should get dressed now, you’re very late.” And with that she shut the door and left me to myself. I wasn’t very good company. I walked the dresser and banged my head on it a few times, gently, no need to get Murasaki’s attention again.

_What_ was happening to me? Was this _really_ happening to me? _What. The. Fuck._

Also, in a distant non-freaked out part of my mind, I found it kinda strange that Sakura’s neighbour hadn’t been more concerned upon finding a twelve-year old in the middle of a panic attack. I knew that Sakura had low self-esteem and the loss of her friendship with Ino had probably set her back a bit but _damn._ Or was this part of the dream, making it so no matter what I did, people would believe that I was Sakura.

Because _I was_ Sakura.

Or was I me _pretending_ to be Sakura?

My head hurt, and not just because I was still banging it on the dresser.

Taking a deep breath I stopped banging and masterfully put my freak-out aside. I would go about Sakura’s day, pretending to be the 12 year-old girl that I looked like, until the dream ended or I woke up, which ever happened first. Or would I go to sleep tonight as Sakura Haruno and wake up tomorrow in my own bed? Could I dream within a dream?

I am so confused right now.

Gathering my courage I opened the middle draw in the dresser and saw the familiar red dress. It looked like I was going to do this. For now and until I woke up, I was Haruno Sakura of the Naruto world.

Kinda.

Sorta.

I could do this.

_Really_.

...I was _so_ going to mess this up.

_Fuck._


	2. Go To School

I can’t do this.

No really. Why did I think this was a good idea?

I had started off strong, managing to dress myself in Sakura’s clothing with no mishaps, even if it took me five minutes to tie that damn hair ribbon, grabbed what looked like a school bag off the kitchen table and darted out of the house in record time, Murasaki yelling something about breakfast to my fleeing back.

I vaguely remembered something about Sakura being on a diet. Which was ridiculous because; one – Sakura was a _twelve-year-old girl_ , and two – she was a _ninja_! Well, a wannabe ninja at any rate. She needed that food! I needed that food damn it. I could already hear my stomach rumbling.

Great, not only could I feel pain in this dream but I could feel hunger too. But that was the thing about dreams, they felt real until you woke up and realized that it had just been all in your head. I was just one of the lucky ones that had realized it before I woke up. If you could call that lucky.

But, back to my original complaint of this being a bad idea. I had no idea how to get to the academy. I mean yeah, I knew it was at the bottom of the Hokage Mountain and I could see the damn thing, huge and impressive even at this distance, but I had no idea how to actually get over to it. As per my usual luck, there seemed to be a village in the way and no straight road to my destination.

Maybe if I concentrated really hard a path would appear. After all this all inside my head, surely it could manipulate it a little bit. I closed my eyes and thought really hard about the ninja academy, imagining shops moving aside to create a clear path. I opened my eyes tentatively. Nope no such luck.

Damn it, dream.

Well, no use for it. I knew what direction I needed to go in and with the four massive heads as a landmark there was no way I could get turned around. I’d get there.

Eventually.

Maybe.

_Fuck_.

After a few minutes of trying to navigate the maze that is Konoha I realized that, amazingly, I seemed to know the way. Or at least Sakura did. Slowly the confusing layout and colourful stalls that all looked the same started to make sense. I had a continuous sense of déjà vu as I passed shops and buildings, picking out landmarks that I knew but had never seen before.

My feet took me down one street and another, steps sure and steady until the Hokage faces loomed high above me and the red roof of the ninja academy came into view.

Maybe this was the lucid part of my dreaming, being able to access the memories of the person I was in the dream while still maintain my actual sense of self?

Feeling slightly more confident with this idea in mind, I entered the building and hoped that Sakura’s memory would take me to the right classroom.

It did.

Poking my head into the room I had stopped in front of, I grinned as I recognised several familiar faces.

There were Shikamaru, Chōji and Kiba taking up a back row. Shikamaru had his head on his desk, most likely sleeping, as Chōji sat beside him and munched his way through a packet of chips. Kiba had Akamaru stuffed down the front of his hoody so that only the dog’s head was visible and seemed to be having a rather animated conversation with his canine friend, if the hand waving and barking was anything to go by.

Looking around the room a bit, I found Ino by her platinum hair and larger than live personality. Ino was sitting and chatting with several girls off to the left. The rest of the girls followed Ino’s lead giggling occasionally and casting unsubtle glances towards a dark haired boy glaring out of a window on the other side of the room. With the way Ino commanded the other girls’ attention I was strongly reminded of a Queen holding court.

Sasuke, the dark haired boy in question, was glaring out of the window with his arms cross defiantly over his chest. I felt emotion rise in my chest and supposed that it was given that I would have some kind of attachment to the kid, considering that I had taken over the mind of his biggest fan, but romance had nothing to do with what I was feeling right now. The truth of the matter was, the only reason I thought Sasuke was cute because the kid was so damn pouty. At this point I wasn’t even sure I could pretend to fawn over Sasuke; I’d probably just end up cooing at him. This did not bode well for my plan of pretending to be Sakura.

Tearing my eyes away from the angsty preteen, I looked around for Hinata. I found her seated down the front of the room and noted that she was one of the only quiet children in the class. Head down, she seemed to be studying a sheet of paper rather intently, alternately making it with a red pen or taking notes in a book she had open on the desk in front of her.

All of the major players where here, barring Naruto. And Oh. My. God. They were all so tiny and cute! The Konoha Nine!

…No, wait.

I was missing someone.

I did a quick head count, trying to remember who I was missing.

…. Oh, there he was, Shino, dead centre in the middle row.

I couldn’t understand how I had missed him but no matter, I had found the bug user… And that was all I could really say about him to be honest. He was just sitting there, dead centre of the room in his high jacket and sunglasses. Indoors. Weird kid.

“Sakura-kun, you’re late!” My attention snapped to the white haired man who had finally noticed me loitering in the doorway like a creeper.

This had to be Mizuki. “Well?” He asked, clearly expecting some sort of explanation or apology.

“Sorry, Sensei.” I said, desperately trying to think of an excuse. “ I-I over slept?” I winced at how fake that sounded but Mizuki just laughed.

“Iruka-sensei is off chasing Naruto so I won’t tell him if you won’t” He gave me a friendly wink and I forced a small smile at him. He honestly didn’t seem that bad, like one of those awesome substitute teachers you always hoped to get if your main teacher was away. Too bad he was a treacherous dick who would manipulate Naruto into stealing some sort of important scroll and then tried to break Naruto’s spirit by telling the kid that he was the Kyuubi. Dick.

Mizuki motioned me into the room, handed me a sheet of paper from the pile on the teacher’s desk and nodded towards the class. “Go take a seat next to Tobio-kun” 

Great. I’ll get right on that, just one question. Who the fuck is Tobio? I had a hazy image of a boy in grey clothes, sporting a Shikamaru-like ponytail.

Casting a quick look around the room I saw an empty seat next to a boy in the upper left corner who had stopped talking with his friends and turned towards the front, most likely responding to the sound of his name. He fit Sakura’s hazy description so I took a chance and moved up the rows to take the seat. No one corrected me so I assumed I was right and this was Tobio. Way to go Sakura! Remembering random one or two scene characters that are never seen again. Good job.

I looked towards Mizuki, waiting for him to call his students to order. The Genin exam was tomorrow, shouldn’t we all be revising or something? I looked down at the sheet I had been given. It _was_ a revision sheet and at a quick glance I could see that it listed the names of the Five Great Shinobi Nations among other things. But the thing was, no one in the room besides Hinata and maybe Shino were actually studying it. The class was a rabble of sound as students chatted to their neighbors or call out across the room. Some were doodling on the back of their revision sheets and, out of the corner of my eye; I could Kiba turning his into a paper airplane.

I could feel my eyebrows rise on Sakura’s impressive forehead as Mizuki lazed behind the teacher’s desk, leaning back with his feet up. No wonder he had never been promoted a proper teacher, he was useless.

I rolled my eyes and looked down at my paper. This would be useful for the written part of the exam but I was still screwed on the practical – no wait. By this time tomorrow I would be home, back in the real world and Sakura would pass her test just like she did in the original story. Or not because this was, you know, _a_ _dream_. Either way I had nothing to worry about. Everything would be fine.

With nothing left to do I read and re-read the revision sheet as the minutes ticked by, turning into one hour and then two. Goddamn I was bored, but I didn’t have the confidence to strike up a conversation with my fellow students. I still didn’t know what would happen if anyone realized I wasn’t really Sakura. So I stayed and read my revision sheet, managing to learn more about the ninja world in one go that I did in countless research binges on the Naruto wikia. Too bad this was probably all dream nonsense.

The class stayed in its state of disarray until the bell rang for lunch. Glad to have break, there was only so many times I could re-read a single sided sheet of information interesting or not. I grabbed the lunchbox from Sakura’s bag that I didn’t remember packing, and followed the throng of kids through the halls and out into the yard. Immediately people started to split off, forming pre-existing groups. Unsure where to go I let myself keep walking, hoping that Sakura would be able to subconsciously find her group or that her group would call out for her to join them. Instead I was taken around the corner to the main building and came to stop in the shade of a large tree. Damn, pretending to be Sakura was going to be easier than I’d thought. Had Ino really been her only friend?

Settling myself down at the base of the tree, I noticed that a note had been taped to the top of my lunch.

_‘Sakura-chan,_

_I noticed that you didn’t have anything for lunch; luckily for you I have a spare! I made this for a teammate but I think you deserve it more. By the way, it took me a long time to make this so you’d better eat it all! I don’t want to hear the word ‘diet’, there’s no point in training if you just faint from hunger. Imagine what Sasuke-kun would think!_

_Also, just a reminder that I’m going out on a mission today. I’m really sorry but it looks like I won’t be back for a few weeks, which means I’m going to miss your graduation. So the first thing I want to see when I get back is you wearing a shiny new forehead protector._

_Think you can make that happen? I do!_

_Love, Murasaki’_

There was a warm, happy feeling unfurling in my chest as I read the note. Murasaki was a really nice person; it was a very nice gesture to make to a sad little girl. I hoped that she was telling the truth about this being for a teammate and she hadn’t given me her own lunch.

I opened my lunch box and instantly realized two things. One; It was not a lunchbox, at least not in the way I was used to, it was a homemade bento filled with Japanese style food, and two; I was fairly certain that I did not like anything it contained. Dread washed over me as I remembered the instant disgust that had followed my first taste of sushi. Was I even going to be able to eat any of this? I picked up a seaweed wrapped rice ball and gave it a tentative sniff. Maybe it was plain? It probably tasted different than sushi anyway. I hope.

I closed my eyes, took a bite and let surprised noise escape. It was good! I wasn’t sure whether I genuinely liked what I was eating or I liked it because Sakura did but I wasn’t going to question it. Instead I stuffed Sakura’s face with delicious food.

I was just taking my last bite when a snide voice interrupted my chewing.

“Wow, Sakura. You’re such a cow!” I looked up to see one of the giggly girls Ino had been sitting with earlier. She stood above me, hands on her hips and a smirk on her lips.

“Is this what you do everyday when you disappear at lunch? Hide in a corner and pig-out?” She laughed, high pitched and unpleasant.

“Where are you even putting all that? In your forehead? I wonder what Sasuke-kun will think if he sees you stuffing your face like this, Greedy Guts.” The girl lifted one hand and tossed a long strand of purple hair over one shoulder with an air of smug satisfaction.

I blinked at her.

I had no idea who this girl was.

Ami? Maybe? Or was she Fuki? Kasumi?

Well, I knew that Whatever-her-name was one of Sakura’s childhood bullies and had apparently gone back to harassing the pink haired girl now that Ino was no longer here to provide Sakura with support.

I swallowed, remembering the warm feeling that I had gotten from Murasaki’s note and surprise lunch, a feeling that had now faded to nothing under this girl’s harsh words.

I knew I should probably say something back to her. I had a vague sense of what Sakura wanted to do, she wanted to stutter out an excuse of missing dinner last night, lower her eyes and turn away so that the girl wouldn’t see the tears I could already feel, prickling and waiting to fall.

This is what Sakura wanted to do.

I knew that this is what I should do, if I wanted to keep up the appearance of being Sakura.

Steeling myself I looked her straight in the eyes and said, “I wonder what Sasuke-kun will think when you faint during a sparing match because you were starving yourself? Probably that you’re really weak and pathetic.”

Yeah. Because _that_ was in character. Way to go me.

But I hated bullies. There was just no way I would be able to just sit there at take this preteen passive aggressive bullshit.

Still, I keep this up and by the end of the day I’m going to get interrogated by Ibiki. I just _know_ it.

The girl took a half a step back, a shocked expression working its way across her face, obviously not expecting Sakura to stand up for herself. She quickly recovered however, narrowed her eyes and took a deep breath, preparing what I imagined to be a truly spectacular tirade.

Just then a loud ringing echoed around the courtyard, signaling the end of our break.

Saved by the bell!

Gathering my empty bento, I stood quickly, brushed past the girl, what-ever-her-name _Ami-Fuki-Kasumi?,_ and made my way back to class. Hopefully I’d be able to get through the rest of the day without drawing to much attention to myself.

Hopefully.

I could do it.

Maybe.


End file.
